A chilling procedure may save heart attack victims

11:01 AM PST on Tuesday, March 1, 2005

By CHRIS INGALLS / KING 5 News

SEATTLE – The first results are in from a bizarre experiment launched by doctors at Harborview Medical Center.

The odds of survival are not good for victims of a massive heart attack, but in Seattle, Medic One crews are armed with an experimental treatment for the worst cases.

This is very preliminary, but in the past six months doctors have been able to study about 30 heart attack victims and some may owe their lives to an innovative and icy new treatment.

"They are people who have no heart rhythm or abnormal heart rhythm, no pulse, no blood pressure. They are truly dead when the medics get there," said Dr. Michael Copass, Harborview ER director.

Heart attack victims are now getting a simple injection of cold salt-water solution.

KING

Heart attack victims receive a simple injection of cold salt-water solution.

Doctors say early results of the experiment are promising.

"We have the sense, particularly in people that have been brought here, that more people are awakening than we would have expected," he said.

Heart attacks shut down blood flow to the brain and in minutes the neurological damage can be irreversible and deadly.

Cold temperatures can slow that damage, as seen when drowning victims survive after being pulled from an icy lake.

This is the first experiment in the U.S. where medics are chilling the brain and vital organs before patients get to the emergency room, and it seems to be working.

"There are probably a couple of people who we did not expect to wake up who are getting ready to pay for the next tax increase," said Dr. Copass.

In all, doctors hope to study 100 to 200 heart attack victims. They say it may take a year-and-a-half to reach that goal before they decide whether putting patients on ice really works.

All seven of Seattle's Medic One units have been involved in this experiment.